Week 2

I didn't know it would be so hard to keep up with my blog! But here we go!

Sunday, May 22nd- I went to church with my host family, they go to an English speaking church...the congregation is small but it was a nice service. I didn't know British English would be so hard to understand sometimes, but it definitely is! Afterwards we hungout at home then went off to Blankenese to see the Elbe River. Unfortunately the was was really crappy so my host family and I didn't stay for very long. Blankenese is where a lot of the rich people live. The houses are beautiful!

Some houses in Blankenese overlooking to Elbe river

Lighthouse on the Elbe River

Hamburg has a huge harbour and many bug ships go down the Elbe river so people who live on it can see these huge freight ships going down it. I want to go there on a bright and sunny day and just sit at the beach and watch the boats go in an out. Also the Airbus industries are located across the river so you can see planes take off too. Later that night I went into Hamburg with Julia. And some random German guy from Heidelberg joined us and he had not been to Hamburg before so we showed him the Harbour, Reeperbahn and the Jungfernstieg area. I got home late that night^^ But it was a good night.

Monday- I walked all over Schenefeld because I had to get Simon from the Kita and then we went to the mall which is the opposite way, we then came home and played a little. Later that night I watched some German news with my host dad, my head was pounding afterwards...They talk so fast I couldn't understand basically anything. I love how you have to walk and you don't really even need a car here. The bus/ subway tickets are expensive though....5,50 euro for a day card....ughh I've spent so much on just going into Hamburg!

Tuesday- I met Julian! He's so much taller than I thought he would be haha! We met at Jungfernstieg at 7 and Phips came along too and we went into Europa Passage and got some food for the movie we were going to see later (Pirates of the Caribbean)...It was even in English! After the movie we all got on the U-bahn and went to a bar in some place I had not been to before...The bar was called Einstein, but there are a few around Hamburg. I got a 2 for 1 Strawberry Margarita, but OMG it was so strong I couldn't drink them both. Julian and Phips are both really nice, so far all the guys I have hungout with are really nice ..but thats only three (Hannes, Julian and Phips). I had known Hannes and Julian for a while before so I knew they would be nice anyways haha. Phips then left us after the bar and Julian was a gentleman and took me back to Altona since it was so late. I later found out Julian caught the last subway into his town...I felt bad! If he would have waited any longer with me he might have missed it=/ But Tuesday was awesome! I had a lot of fun!

Wednesday- I went to H&M to get some jeans since I didn't have any nice ones with me...I thought the weather was going to be a lot warmer than this! I spent like $60 on Jeans...ugh I wanted to puke, I never spend that much. Later that day I went on a 10 km bike ride with Svenja and her gym class she is part of. We went to Kloevenstein (sp?) which is a beautiful park right outside of Schenefeld. There are lots of walking paths and everything. I really like it there. We saw so many deer..It was awesome! My ass hurt so bad the next day though...haha I'm not used to that long of bike rides!

Julia and I

Cecilia and I

Alster:)

Thursday- I met Julia at Altona and then we met Cece at Jungfernsteig where we then went to another H&M and I bought more stuff..UGH! haha Afterwardds we got some sandwiches and sat by the Alster and took some pictures and just talked. It was really nice:) (See pictures above)
There is some E. Coli thing going around here in Northern Germany and in the Hamburg area..and it is coming from Spanish Cucumbers. People say not the eat lettuce or tomatoes either...Funny because ALL of those were on my freaking sandwich. I only ate the cucumbers though because I had heard that no one should eat lettuce or tomatoes. After Cece went home around 2 Julia and I walked to Saint Nikolai Church which is the church you can go up to the top can see the city. So we did that and I got lots of pictures:)

Saint Nikolai Church

Rathaus and Alster Lakes

Harbour

Julia then had to leave after and I waited for my host dad because we were getting my monthly ticket ready for next week. After we got my monthly ticket we took the subway back home and lucky for us the subway in front of us broken down so we waited on a subway in the same spot for 1 hour....fun times! haha. Friday my host dad's parents from Bonn and his brother from North Carolina will come in for the weekend. So until then Ciao!

First Week in Germany

WOW! One week in Germany already and I have done so many things so far! So I will go day by day with what I did.

Sunday: I woke up at 1 p.m and then ate some and  then Simon had a nap and then after we set out to see some of Hamburg. We also drove by the Kita (Kindergarten) that Simon goes to so I knew how to get there when I was going to begin picking him up. This was the first day I was ever on a subway and when we were on it I thought to myself, "how will I ever understand it?" ..but now I am doing much better! I saw the Hamburg City hall (Rathaus)

Hamburg Rathaus

and the Inner Alster and my language school. We also got some ice cream at a mall called Europa Passage, but my host family wanted me to order my own which I did, but yikes....my German is so bad! haha All in all my Sunday was a really nice day, but the jetlag was still getting to me!

Monday: Monday was my first real day of having to do au pair work. I had to clean a little and some easy stuff like that. Later I walked to the Kita to meet my host dad so I could meet the daycare people. None of them spoke much English. Afterwards we went to the mall by bus with Simon. It's a nice mall in Schenefeld but people are aloud to smoke outside the stores...I hated that! I also met some of their neighbors by their house. Later we ate dinner and talked about my first time going into the city alone on Tuesday as I was to meet Cecilia!

My language school - "Colon Language school"

My bedroom

Tuesday:  So Tuesday I met Cecilia, I had to get my own day pass for the bus and subway and yikes I was sooo nervous to speak in German to the bus driver! We went into the city and I bought some postcards, Kinder chocolate, and pretzels. Later we sat down at the Rathaus and talked. She is really really nice and I am glad I finally got to meet her! We will have some fun times this summer! We also took the Subway to the Reeperbahn because I wanted to see it in the daylight. We ended up at Schweinskes which is a restaurant thing, and I got my first legal alcoholic drink! haha It was yummy!! We then made some plans to go on the Reeperbahn on Friday and I decided I would ask Hannes and Julian to go too. Overall a good day!

Inneralster

Wednesday: Wednesday I decided I really needed to buy a jacket since I didn't really have a warm one here. But I had no luck in the mall when I walked to it. I later picked up Simon with Stephan I decided I would walk Simon back but Simon soon realized that his dad was beside him and he began to cry but he quickly got over it...thank goodness! I always feel bad when kids cry around me! haha He's a good kid, really cute, and when he says "woof woof" for a dog he pronounces it like "voof voof" hahahah I love it! Us three all then went to the mall and ordered some veggies and fruits from the Turk^^ He's a cool guy haha. Then later that night I received and email on TOYTOWN from an aupair who had just arrived in Hamburg the same day as me. She's from Canada and her name is Julia. She was going to meet me at Altona and then take the subway together to Poppenbuttel to meet Cece at a huge mall there. AND ironically enough she is in my language class too! I couldn't wait to meet her! She was so nice! My host parents also signed me up for classes then for language school Wednesday too.

Thursday: So today I met Julia and Cece and we all went shopping and of course I spent the most! haha Julia is really nice and gorgeous! After Cece left around 3 Julia and I went back into the city and walked around some, we went to Planten un Blomen which is a botanical garden and its HUGE! There is no way I can walk all of it. I hope to meet Julia again soon because she's super cool! Friday was to be the big day for me, as I was to meet Hannes and Julian. SHIT! I had a hard time sleeping for two days because of it...I mean how are you supposed to act when you talk to someone for 1.5 years and then finally meet? haha

Planten un Blomen

Inneralster

The famous Reeperbahn!

 

 Friday:  Scheisse! What a day Friday was! I picked up Simon for the first time alone and everything went well too. Which was awesome! Then I began to get ready for tonight....Julian was not able to go because he was sick and Cecilia was also not able to go because of other things. So I then invited Julia and Hannes invited his friend Phips. At 7:45 pm I set out and met Julia at Altona and we rode to Jungfernstieg station and walked to the Rathaus where we were to all meet. And so I finally met Hannes. He's just a nice as I thought he would be. Nice car too^^ He decided not to drink that night so he could be the driver. So we all got in and went to a bar on the other side of the Alster called Alsterperle...It's a really cute bar right on the lake with a good atmosphere! I loved it, we just talked and chilled out for a few hours...they bought us some drinks and I had a Beck's beer:) Yummy! At 11pm we went back to the car and drove around the city some then Julia and I drank all the jack and coke Hannes had mixed in the car^^ Yummy too! We then went through the Elb tunnel on the autobahn and then after that Hannes took off with the car on the autobahn going about 160- 180  KM ....thats like 120 mph! haha It was awesome!! I have to say I love his driving haha! We then turned around and went to the Reeperbahn (Kiez) as locals would call it. We then walked to a McDonalds and Phips and Julia got some food and later we went to a bar called Thomas Reid which was an Irish Pub. It was really cool! I drank a Jack and coke, a shot of Sambucca, and 2 Heinekens. Yummy!! Let me say after that I was feeling great!! We all just chilled and talked and Julia and I also went and danced....I noticed the guys here don't just come up and dance with you...Sorta weird compared to the US. I loved the music there because It's music I had listened too that Hannes had sent me a long time ago and I finally got to dance to it, haha. around 3 am we left back to the car and Hannes took Julia and I home. I was in bed around 4 wow! haha I can't wait to go back out on the Kiez or anywhere else with him. His friend Phips is really nice too. He bought us quite a few drinks too. Both are really nice guys! But damn, to have met Hannes yesterday,....haha I was in shock, like I couldn't believe it! And I still can't believe it! I went to bed super tired that night, but and awesome night though!

View of the Alster from Alsterperle

Hannes and I..finally we meet!

Julia and I...one of my Canadian friends!

Saturday: Saturday was a rough day with only 4 hours of sleep because I woke up at 9 am soo freaking thirsty! haha I then got around and we went to a shoe store for Simon and then to a store called Famila which is a really cool store, I love the German food here, sometimes my stomach doesn't agree with me but I am getting used to eating bread basically everyday haha. I like the bread though.We then came home and chilled out for a while and Stephan helped me with my numbers in German and then one of Svenjas friends came over and we all went to a park outside of Schenefeld...I swear we walked like 4 miles! Then my allergies got the best of me too. When we came back we had a little BBQ out back which was cool. Overall a nice chilling out day:) Tuesday I will meet Julian and we will watch the last Pirates of the Caribbean in English together at the Cinema:)

So there you have it all! Enjoy this long one! I will try to do it more often so I'm not stuck here for 2 hours typing this! Tschuss!

First Day in Germany/ First Impressions

So here it is...I'm in Deutschland!!!! I can't believe it! I'm in shock^^ My flight over was really nice and easy, but it just such a long day on Friday. I woke up at 4:30 am and left my house at 5:30 am for the Detroit airport. At 11:00 my plane left for Newark, New Jersey, and I even got to see the Statue of Liberty! then at 5:40 pm I left Newark for Germany, where I then arrived around 7:15 am in Hamburg. Remember there is a 6 hour time difference....my flight was 7 hours long. The food was good though!! And I was lucky because I got the window seat but no one sat in the middle seat so I had a lot more room! As I got on the plane I did begin to cry a bit because I was saying goodbye to America...my family, my doggies..everything. But I know I made one of the best decisions in my life doing this. So many older adults tell me that they wish they had done something like this when they were a young adult. I'm happy God gave me an opportunity like going to be an au pair in Germany.

bye bye America!

Sunset somewhere over the Atlantic!

Good morning Europe!

Oh hey Germany!!

So then I arrived in Hamburg, where I went through passport control and customs easily with no problem. I even got all my luggage! Thank God! But when it came to finding where my host family would be was a bit of a problem... Continental Airlines normally go to a different Terminal than what I had arrived in, and so my host family didn't know this so we both spent some time looking for each other. But in the end we found one another. Just flying over Germany you can see the differences in the houses and there is sooooo much greenery!   My host families house is so adorable and cute! I love my room too, its cute and big:) We then left to go on a walk so they could show me some of Schenefeld. We went to the bakery, butcher, ALDI, and I was showed where the 2 bus stops are. It's a really cute town too!

Some things I noticed that is different from the US is the windows. here the windows open up differently than the US ones. I'll post a picture later of them. The house look different, along with the roofs. I love how much greenery there is around houses. Although the yards are not big, it's not that bad, because there are so many places to walk! I'll post pictures soon (it's dark outside as I am writing this). At the bakery and butcher I didn't understand anything anyone said...they talked way to fast. It's a little overwhelming and I definitely am getting a culture shock, I think a little more than I thought. Stephan and Svenja gave me a tour of their house in German and English too. At night we all sat down to watch the Eurovision contest and I also had taken a 5 hour nap during the day and now I'm not tired at all....dammit! haah. It's already 01:35 here, haha.

OH and I got a big surprise in the mail today! (yes I got mail my first day!) I received a really nice package from Hannes and his family. Thank you so much! It was really nice of you:)


So after all this I can't wait to go out an explore, meet friends, drink alcohol legally, and of course spend time with my new host family!!

Ciao!

Final Week in the USA!

My last week in Ohio was really nice. I spent it around friends and also visited some family:) I packed and unpacked many times too, just to make sure I had everything^^ On Monday some friends from Bryan had a porch party that lasted all day and all night....let me tell ya! It was cold sleeping out there! It was a nice last week, but it took a long time because I was so excited for Germany!! I can't wait to meet Hannes, Julian, Cecilia and Annie! It's hard to believe I am so close to meeting them soon! I can't wait to meet my host family again too!! So the next post will be from Germany! And also I will try to post more!!! Ciao!

8 more days!

Hallo ;)


So here it is, my last week in the U.S for the next 3 months. I am so excited to have the opportunity to do this, but I am going to miss my dogs so much. As I sit here and write this I want to cry because I love them so much. I know that's ridiculous, but seriously my dogs are my best friends. I'll miss my parents too, they have done so much for me throughout my life, and although we do not agree on a lot of things they still do lots of things for me. So thank you mom and dad for putting up with my bitchiness. Tonight I went out to my favorite Mexican restaurant and tomorrow I will go to the mall for the last time, although I think my mom is happy about this....she won't have to dish out money to me for the next 3 months.

I began packing for college too, so I have nothing to wear basically because everything is either packed for Germany or college, haha. Also on Monday I finished my 2nd year of college. I am so happy too! No more college for 3 months! YES!

Also I began to make copies of all my paperwork for Germany, and I still need to make copies of my driver's license, immunization records, passport, and debit card.  My mom and I got into a little fight over whether I should carry cash on me or put all of it on my debit card and take it out when I get to Germany. In the end after 2 days of arguing about it I guess I am putting all my money on a debit card except for like $250 and then when I get there I'll take the rest out. It makes sense because I don't really want to carry all that money in cash through an airport. And so, now I am down to 8 days and goodness i've been waiting like 8 months for this! haha. Well until next Thursday everyone enjoy their weekend. And Happy Mother's Day! Love you mommy!

Ciao!